Refrigerator latch



Sept. 12, 1939. N. B. GEDDES 2,172,467

REFRIGERATOR LATCH Filed July 23, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Sept. 12, 1939.

N. B. GEDDES REFR IGERATOR LATCH Filed July 23, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR.

$5M ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 12, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATOR LATCHNorman Bel Geddes, New York, N. Y., assignor to Servel, Inc., New York,N. Y., a corporation of Delaware This invention relates to a latch for adoor of a refrigerator and it is an object of the invention to providean improved latch whereby the appearance and convenience in operation ofa re- 5 frigerator door are improved.

The invention, together with the objects and advantages thereof, willappear upon consideration of the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, form- 10 ing a part of thisspecification, and of which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a refrigerator embodying. the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragment of the refrigerator shown in Fig. 1,partly broken away;

1 Fig. 3 is a detail section taken on line 3-3 in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail section taken on line 4-4 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a detail section taken on line 5-5 in 20 Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a detail section taken on lines 6-6 in Figs. 2 and 5; and

Fig. 7 is a view like Fig. 5 showing the mechanism in a differentposition of operation.

25 There is shown in Fig. 1 a front view of a refrigerator cabinet laccessible by means of a door I l. The outer surface of the door H isflush with the outer surface of the front of the cabinet l0 and the dooris hinged to the cabinet 30 on one side by means of concealed hinges.The door II is provided on the free side opposite the hinges with animproved latch to be presently described. which latch is operated bywhat may be termed a target l2 or other suitable impact' 35 receivingmember. The target l2, as seen in Figs. 1 and 3, may be a discreciprocable in a recess It in the outer surface of the door II and islo cated at a desired'height that it may be operated either by hand orother part of the body such as 40 the shoulder. The operating disc ortarget I! is secured on the end of a short rod l4 which is slidablyjournalled in the door so that the target I2 is movable perpendicularlyto the plane of the door.

45 As seen in Fig. 2, a shaft I is rotatably iournalled in a verticalposition within the door H by means of a suitable bearing Ii at itsupper end and a thrust bearing II at its lower end. The upper end of theshaft l5 is adjacent the 50 rod l4 on the target l2, and the lower endof the shaft I5 is adjacent the latch bolt to be described. The rod l4on the target I2 is operatively connected to the upper end of the shaftIt by means of a short lever arm l8. One end of the lever 55 am ll-issecured to the shaft II. The other end of the lever arm I8 is bifurcatedand straddles the rod H. A pin I 9 in the rod I4 engages in slots 20 inthe end of the lever arm 3. Thus, when the operating disc or target I2is moved from its full line position in Fig. 3 to its dotted lineposition, 5 the rod I4 is thrust inwardly and rotates the lever arm l8and shaft l5 in a counter-clockwise direction as seen in Figs. 3, 4, 5and 7.

Referring now to the detail Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7, the refrigeratorcabinet is provided with a 10 striking plate 2| adapted to be engagedand disengaged by a latch bolt 22 on the door The bolt 22 is pivoted at23 on a stationary housing 24 in a suitable recess in the door I I.Between an inwardly projecting portion 25 of the pivoted bolt 1 22 andthe stationary housing 24 is arranged a compressed spiral spring 26. Thespring 26 is carried by usual slide bars 21 and 28, the head of theslide bar 21 being pivoted in a suitable groove in the housing 24, andthe head of the slide bar 28 being pivoted in a suitable groove in theprojecting portion of the pivoted bolt 22. The pivoted bolt 22 and thespring 26 constitute a snap action toggle. This toggle is showndisplaced to one side of dead center in Fig. 5, and to 25 the other sideof dead center in Fig. 7. When this toggle is on the side of dead centerillustrated in Fig. 5, the bolt 22 engages behind the striking plate 2|if the door II is closed. When the toggle is shifted to the side of deadcenter 30 illustrated in Fig. 7, the bolt 22 is disengaged from thestriking plate 2| and, if the door is closed, an outer lip 29,is-brought into contact with the outer edge of the striking plate 2|,giving an opening movement to the door I I.

Assume now that the door II is open and the bolt 22 is in the positionindicated in Fig. 7. Upon closing the door the lip 29 of the bolt isbrought up against the striking plate 2|, causing the toggle to snap tothe position shown in Fig. 5 in which the bolt 22 engages behind thestriking plate 2| to hold the door closed. To unlatch the door, there isprovided a bolt shifting member 30 which is a generally U-shaped memberalso pivoted at 23 on the stationary housing 24. The closed end of theU-shaped member 30 is operatively associated with the lip 29 of thelatch bolt 22, and the ends of the legs of the U-shaped member 30 areconnected by similar links 3| and 32 to the ends of a bifurcated leverarm 33 secured on the lower end of the vertical shaft l5. It will now beunderstood that when the shaft I5 is rotated in a counter-clockwisedirection by pressing in on the target l2, as previously described, thelever arm 33 rotates from its position shown inFlg. 5 to its positionshown in Fig. '7 and, by means of the links 3| and 32, rotates the boltshifter 30 so that the closed end thereof engages the lip 29 of the bolt22 and shifts the bolt to the posltion'shown in Fig. '7. This operationcauses the door to open as previously described.

It will be understood that various changes may be made within the scopeof this invention which is not limited except as indicated in thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is: r

1. A latch for a refrigerator door including a pivotally mounted bolthaving a latching finger and a trip finger, means for imparting. asnapaction to said bolt to rotate the latter about its pivot either tounlatched or latched position,'a

strike adapted to be engaged by the trip finger to impart openingmovement to the door when said bolt is rotated to unlatched position, animpact receiving member, and mechanism operatively associating saidimpact receiving member and said bolt to cause said bolt to rotate tounlatched position to effect opening movement of the door upon impact.delivered to said impact. receiving member in a direction substantiallyopposite to the opening movement of the door. 4

2. A latch for a refrigerator door including a pivotally mounted bolthaving a latching finger and a trip finger, means for imparting asnapaction to said bolt to rotate the latter either to latched orunlatched position, a strike adapted to be engaged by the trip finger toimpart, outward opening movement to the door when said bolt is rotatedto unlatched position, a member recessed in the outer surface of therefrigerator, and mechanism operatively associating said member and saidbolt to cause said bolt to rotate to unlatched position to effectoutward opening movement of the door upon impact on said member. l

3. A latch for a refrigerator door having a recess in the outer surfacethereof, said latch ineludinga pivotally mounted bolt having a latchingfinger and a trip finger, means for imparting movement to said bolt .torotate the latter about its pivot either to latched or unlatchedposition, a strike adapted to be engaged by -the trip finger to impartoutward opening movement to the door when said bolt is rotated tounlatched position, a movable member located in the recess, andmechanism operatively associating said member and said bolt to causesaid bolt to rotate to unlatched position'to effect outward openingmovement of the door when said member is pressed inward.

4. A latch for a refrigerator door including a pivotally mounted bolthaving a latching finger and a trip finger, means 'for impartingmovement to said bolt to rotate the latter about its pivot either tolatched or unlatched position, a strike adapted to be engaged by thetrip finger to impart outward opening movement to the door when saidbolt is rotated to unlatched position, an impact receiving memberlocated in the outer surface of the door, and mechanism operativelyassociating said member and said bolt to cause said bolt to rotatetounlatched position to effect out ward opening movement of the door uponimpact delivered to said member in a direction substantially opposite tothe opening movement of the door.

5. A latch for a refrigerator door having a recess in the outer surfacethereof, said latch comprising means including a bolt to impart openingmovement to the door when it is released, a movable member located inthe recess, and mechanism operatively associating said memberv and saidbolt to cause said first-mentioned means to release said bolt to impartopening movement to the door when said member is pressed inward.

6. A latch fora refrigerator door comprising means including a bolt toimpart opening movement to the door when it is released, an impactreceiving member located in the outer surface of the door, and mechanismoperatively associating said member and said bolt to cause saidfirstmentioned means to release said bolt to impart opening movement tothe door upon impact delivered to said member in a directionsubstantially opposite to the opening movement of the door.

. NORMAN BEL GEDDES.

